1. Field of the Invention
The present invention belongs to the field of vehicle lighting. It relates in particular to a lighting device, in which an apparent lighting is generated from a reflecting outside wall.
The invention is particularly advantageous when it is incorporated in lights of a motor vehicle, notably signaling lights.
2. Description of the Related Art
“Signaling light” of a vehicle should be understood to mean a lighting device having a main signaling function for the vehicle with respect to other vehicles, pedestrians, animals, etc.
“Motor vehicle” should be understood to mean any type of wheeled vehicle able to move by its own means such as a passenger car, a heavy truck, a motorcycle, a tractor, a utility vehicle, etc. The lights of a motor vehicle usually comprise a casing in which is arranged a light source. This light source generates light beams which are propagated in the casing then pass for example through a transparent protective lens intended to protect the light source situated in the casing.
A reduced compactness and a restricted cost are imposed in the design of the light devices. In particular, the casing needs to be able to be easily embedded in the body work of the car. This has the notable consequence of reducing the extent of the light emission surface of the lights. For a light, these emission surfaces thus rarely exceed 20 cm by 10 cm, in the horizontal direction or in the vertical direction.
Furthermore, the designers of lighting devices now have to demonstrate a wealth of ingenuity to propose certain exclusive decorative aspects to major motor vehicle constructors. The conventional lights mentioned above limit the creation of decorations to the casing or to the protective lens.
For example, the document EP1191280 notably describes a signaling device for a motor vehicle in which a decorative element is made visible by different reflections occurring within the casing. In this document, the decorative element is limited to the protective lens and to the casing.
Moreover, current regulations dictate dimensions and light intensities that are often incompatible with excessively large decorative elements except by increasing the overall size of the lighting device. As is mentioned above, such an overall increase in the dimensions of the device cannot be considered because of the constraints linked to compactness and cost.
The possibilities in terms of extent of the light emission surface and of creation of decorative devices for the current lights are therefore limited by the technical solutions currently proposed for these conventional lights.